Piano moves — uprights, baby grands, and Steinways
Pianos are their own job. Not their own line item on the same crew — their own crew. Dante Caruso has been leading the specialty work at Baltimore Movers since 2016, and he picks the four-mover team that handles every upright, baby grand, and full grand we touch.
A piano in Baltimore is usually one of three jobs:
- An upright coming out of a Highlandtown or Patterson Park rowhouse with a tight staircase
- A baby grand coming off a Federal Hill or Bolton Hill marble stoop down a narrow brick stair
- A full grand inside a Roland Park or Guilford Victorian where the double parlor doors barely clear the lyre
Each of those moves a different way. So before I quote, I look at the piano and I look at the staircase — and only then does the flat rate go on the estimate.
What’s in every piano move
- Pad-wrap on the entire case, then shrink-wrap over the pads to lock them down
- Corner-board on the legs and the lyre — they’re the pieces that get scuffed on a stoop
- Piano board, skid, and stair-climber dolly for the actual carry
- Reassembly at the destination, pedals checked, lid latched, bench leveled
Piano-move pricing
| Instrument | Crew | Typical flat rate |
|---|---|---|
| Spinet or console upright | 3 movers @ $205/hr | $465–$775 |
| Full upright / studio | 4 movers, flat-rate quoted | $620–$1,030 |
| Baby grand | 4 movers, flat-rate quoted | $925–$1,550 |
| Full grand / Steinway B | 5 movers, flat-rate quoted | $1,650–$2,950 |
Released value at $0.60/lb is included on every job; for a Steinway or a Bösendorfer I’d suggest declaring full-value coverage at replacement value. Up to $1,000,000 cargo coverage per shipment rides on the truck.
Moving the rest of the house the same day? Slot the piano carry into a full residential move, or pair it with a long-distance run if the piano is heading down to Richmond or up to Philadelphia. Hampden bungalows get a lot of upright work in our calendar.
What is folded into your Baltimore, MD flat rate
- Four-mover crew with a piano board, skid, and stair-climber dolly
- Custom pad-wrap, shrink-wrap, and corner-board on every leg, lyre, and pedal assembly
- Climate-aware scheduling — we don't load a grand piano into 95-degree humidity without a quilted cover
- Marble-stoop and rowhouse-staircase carries handled with shoulder straps and a banister-guard
- Reassembly and bench-leveling at the destination — pedals checked, lid latched, dust cover on
- Coordination with your tuner if you want a follow-up tuning a week after the move settles
What will it run?
Two uniformed movers + the truck on the clock at $155/hr, or close the meter entirely with one countersigned Charm City flat number covering the full job in writing
Moving pads, four-wheel dollies, shrink film and the standard COI paperwork that Inner Harbor and Harbor East buildings demand are folded into either rate. A bump to three movers plus the rig sits at $205/hr.
Get my exact Charm City price
